Red Hat Exec: Oracle Linux Move 'Positive for Us'

By Peter Galli |
Posted 10-26-2006

Red Hat executives are putting on a brave face and looking at Oracle's Unbreakable Linux announcement as a positive for them, saying it is an acknowledgement that the future of software is open source and that its Enterprise Linux software is the gold standard.

Oracle on Oct. 25 announced that it will provide the same enterprise-class support for Linux as it provides for its database, middleware and applications products.

"It would certainly have been easier had they not made this announcement, but there are a lot of things that actually will be positive for us," Tim Yeaton, Red Hat's senior vice president and general manager of its products division, told eWEEK.

"We do not think it is at all true that the move could put us out of business and we think it supports the model behind the way we have built our business."